Mother turns her grief into 'Anna's Ride Home'

By Sara Jean Green
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

	GREG GILBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES Barbara White holds a photo of her daughter, Anna, who was killed by a drunken driver.
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A guy walks into a bar with a bunch of buddies for an after-work drink, but ends up staying longer — and swallowing more — than expected.

The scenario played out just the other week at Tony Joyce's Lucky 7 Saloon in Kirkland. One of Joyce's bartenders called a cab and the guy got a free ride home — to Everett.

The Lucky 7's too-tipsy-to-drive patron is precisely the kind of person Barbara White wants to reach in her quest to reduce the number of drunken drivers on local roads and to spare others the anguish of losing a child to such a driver.

The Lucky 7 was the first bar to offer its customers free cab rides through a program that White, of Medina, started in memory of her daughter, Anna Armstrong White, who was killed by a drunken driver outside a Los Angeles radio station in September 2002.

More on foundation For more information about the Anna Armstrong White Foundation, see students.washington.edu/lacena

"Anna didn't drink. I remember her as an attractive young girl who was always happy and bubbly — and who was always the designated driver" when her friends came to the Lucky 7, Joyce said.

The program Barbara White launched, called "Anna's Ride Home," is already having an impact, he said. "We probably send people home 30 to 40 times a month," Joyce said. "I don't think the majority of people who take rides home are drunk — but they don't want to drive" and risk being caught for driving under the influence.

Since the program's launch last April at the Lucky 7, two other bars — R Place on Seattle's Capitol Hill and Fado Irish Pub on First Avenue in Seattle — have embraced Anna's Ride Home. The month-old Cowgirls Inc. American Saloon in Pioneer Square is also getting ready to offer the program, probably later this month.

White has also begun working with the owners of The RockSport Bar & Grill to bring Anna's Ride Home to West Seattle. Two taxi companies, Orange Cab and Graytop, have signed on to make sure the bars' clients get home safely.

White trains each bar's bartenders, servers and security guards to properly implement the program. It's a fairly simple process: A server can suggest Anna's Ride Home to a customer, or a customer can request a free ride. In either event, the server copies the customer's home address from his or her driver's license onto a taxicab voucher, which is then given to the cabdriver as fare. White splits the cost of each voucher with the bar, usually to the tune of $5 to $35 per ride.

There's only one rule: You can't use Anna's Ride Home to go to another bar, to go to a diner or to pick up your car from a park-and-ride lot. You have to go home.

Though plenty of other bar owners have called, White's rollout of the program has been deliberately slow. She's a self-described perfectionist who wants to make sure the Anna Armstrong White Foundation, a registered charity, has enough money to offer long-term support to its participating watering holes.

But momentum is building: The Coors Brewing Co. recently signed on as a corporate sponsor, donating more than $5,000, with additional money on the way. The Bellevue Police Guild recently gave $500, and a young woman with a University of Washington business degree got in touch with White last week to volunteer her expertise.

Anna White turned 21 on Sept. 11, 2001, the day terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon. It was a somber birthday without much celebrating.

By the next September, Anna "had finally found her passion" and enrolled at the Fashion Institute of Design and Marketing in Los Angeles, Barbara White said. "She was really looking forward to that next birthday," her mom recalled.

Two days before Anna would have turned 22, her friends surprised her with a trip to a local radio station where Anna's heartthrob, pop star Justin Timberlake, was giving an interview. The girls couldn't get inside the station, but mingled outside with a large group of fans.

Anna was approached by a man, Cameron Duty, who "came on to Anna but she said 'no,' " White said. He spat an obscenity and told Anna, "I'm going to kill you," White said.

Duty got into his truck and threw it into reverse — slamming into Anna White and pinning her between his truck and another vehicle. Duty took off, dragging Anna's body for more than a block as he fled the scene.

Duty, who admitted he was drunk, pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced to 18 years in prison, The Daily News of Los Angeles reported in October.

"Her death was so horrific. She died in the streets of L.A. by herself ... ," White said.

White, her husband and four of their daughter's girlfriends channeled their grief by starting the Anna Armstrong White Foundation and recruiting a roster of high-profile board members. In September, the first Anna Armstrong White Foundation 5K Run/Walk For A Safe Ride Home was held in Medina.

White said the purpose of Anna's Ride Home isn't to shame people for overindulging, but to get them to think about their responsibilities and choices.

"I have enough energy to turn this into quite the program, in this area and in the country," White said in her Medina living room. "I need corporate sponsorship, I need time to make this work because I really believe Anna's Ride Home is a very viable, good thing. I think Anna would be proud we're doing it."

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com

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